The Life-Sized City Blog

Photo by Jaime Dieppa from Citibici.es This sign is currently positioned along the City Hall in Copenhagen. It's from the City's DoT and Bicycle Office and uses the behavourial communcation template Copenhagenize Consulting developed a few years back. It reads: " Hi, Cyclist! Soon you'll be able to ride safe and secure along the City Hall Garden on a 2.80 metre wide cycle track with a curb. " This stretch along the City Hall is one of the few stretches of main streets left that doesn't have a separated cycle track. It's been a painted lane next to a bus lane, which is next to six lanes of traffic. So now it's getting redone so it adheres to the Best Practice in the rest of the city. And that 2.80 metre width is one way, of course. There are about 20,000 cyclists - in both directions - on this artery and making it safer will encourage more to use the route.

Here's a brief reportage from a short R&R trip I made to Sweden earlier this week. The details of which you can read over at Cycle Chic - great getaway hotel if you're in Copenhagen or Sweden or are cycling touring in the Skåne area. I took the Øresunds train from Copenhagen Central to Bromölla and from there it was a 7 km ride to the design hotel on the coast. I've written previously about even small towns in Sweden have excellent cycle tracks and even keep them cleared of snow in the winter . I've also briefly covered infrastructure between small towns in Denmark as well as the infrastructure connecting cities all over the land . While Denmark features over 10,000 km of national bicycle infrastructure connecting much of the nation , it is worth highlighting that Southern Sweden does just fine as well. The trains all have roomy bicycle compartments and I always get a kick out of the seatbelts for bicycles that are provided. My Crescent bicycle from 19

Last year, a proposal for bicycle helmet legislation was tabled here in Denmark. Copenhagenize Design Co. and Bicycle Innovation Lab promptly gathered a list of experts and we sent an open letter to all the members of the Danish parliament - and to the Danish press. The bicycle helmet law was defeated! Rationality prevailed. Here is the letter we wrote to the papers and to every MP in the parliament. The letter is also online here, on the Copenhagenize Consulting website . Experts: Vote no to the mandatory bike helmet proposal and strengthen public health! Danish experts in traffic, mobility and cycling recommend that all members of the Danish Parliament vote NO to the proposed bicycle helmet law. You should vote NO to mandatory bicycle helmets in Denmark because: - Denmark is the world's safest bicycle nation, along with The Netherlands. - Cycling levels are falling and mandatory helmet laws further reduce the number of cyclists. We need MORE cyclists, not fewer.

Something one might expect to see at Cycle Chic, but here is the Crown Princess of Tasmania... uh... Denmark on her Nihola cargo bike riding across the palace square outside Amalienborg, where the royal types live. The tabloid's headline reads, " Mary on a bike ride. The Princess takes a day off ". Actually, it's the family's cargo bike. The Crown Prince often drops off his kids at kindergarten in it . One can question whether or not everyday is a day off for a royal. Someone produced this website that tracks the work schedule of Mary's husband, Crown Prince Frederik. Arbejder kronprinsen idag? / Is the Crown Prince working today? But hey, at least Mary is living the dream and a bicycle is under her Aussie ass while she is doing it. Nice.

And so the nightmare that summarises the Culture of Fear reaches the shores of Denmark. Two political parties announced yesterday that they will push for a bicycle helmet law for under 16s. A proposal was defeated in the Danish Parliament back in 2009 , when rationality was still something politicians possessed, apparently. Danish readers can check out Cykelhjelm.org for a crash course in knowledge . The Radical Left and the Socialist Peoples' Party are behind the proposal. The traffic "safety" spokesman for The Radical Left - Jan Johansen - said to Danish Broadcasting: " We are of the opinion that we must make our children as safe as possible when they are in the traffic ". What the Radical Left and the Socialist Peoples' Party AREN'T doing is making our streets safe. They are NOT proposing to follow in the footsteps of over 80 European cities and creating 30 km/h zones in densely populated areas or proposing traffic calming measures in o